Knott and Höneckl celebrated their contract extension in Linz in front of 500 eyewitnesses

“Is playing ice hockey fun?” a child asked Black Wings player Niklas Bretschneider during the autograph session. Almost 500 fans followed the call of the Linz ice hockey players after a closing ceremony for the season in the VIP rooms of the Linz-AG-Eisarena. In order to get autographs from the cracks, some supporters put up with waiting times. You rarely catch the players in such a relaxed atmosphere.

The emotional state of the cracks is still somewhat ambivalent. The frustration after the bitter end of the season on Tuesday in Bolzano was still noticeable in the cracks who were asked to take the stage. Whereby the view has long been directed forward. So-called exit meetings have already been held, in which those responsible and the players find out about the positions in the contract negotiations.

Sports director Philipp Lukas was successful with two players: With Graham Knott and Thomas Höneckl, the second-line center and the backup goalkeeper were successfully kept in Linz for another year. Knott in particular showed showmaster qualities before the final message (“Ick blejbe”). Some clubs – including those from the German DEL – have expressed interest. And when asked about the future, Knott supposedly concluded with the words “I will keep all my options open”. When asked if there might be any surprises, Knott asked the audience: “How about playing in Vienna? I heard it’s a big city and they have some good players there.” In response, he received whistles. Then the 26-year-old broke up: “Ick blejbe”. Like Höneckl, who complimented the fans in his speech.

Perhaps the atmosphere was so relaxed because the players went on a trip together: they treated themselves to two days of skiing in Obertauern. “It was really good,” enthused captain Brian Lebler, “and we really got into skiing.” Defender Ramon Schnetzer also recognized that certain players have talent on two boards. However, that doesn’t apply to all players: “It was enough for everyone to come down from the hut. But in some cases you can’t really call it skiing,” grinned the Austro-Mexican.

Incidentally, Bretschneider answered the question asked at the beginning with a “yes”. Ice hockey is fun, especially again in Linz.

Squad planning of the Steinbach Black Wings

CONTRACTS IN PROGRESS OR EXTENDED

• Goal: Rasmus Tirronen (until 2025), Thomas Höneckl (until 2024)
• Defense: Gerd Kragl (until 2025)
• Forward: Brian Lebler (until 2024), Shawn St-Amant (until 2025), Andreas Kristler (until 2024 with option), Stefan Gaffal (until 2024 with option), Emilio Romig (until 2024), Brodi Stuart (until 2024), Julian Pusnik (until 2024), Niklas Bretschneider (until 2025), Dennis Sticha (until 2024 with option), Kilian Rappold, Graham Knott (until 2024)

STAY OPEN

• Leon Sommer, Logan Roe, Patrick Söllinger, Lorenz Lindner, Marc-Andre Dorion, Ramon Schnetzer, Martin Schumnig, Raphael Wolf, Marco Brucker, Michael Haga, Jakob Mitsch, Daine Todd, Matt Murphy, Alexander Lahoda

ACCESS (unofficial)

• Nico Feldner (Innsbruck)